Shirts for Sharks

Amy Engel got her entire school involved in shark conservation by organizing “Wear a Shark Shirt” days and selling tees printed with her own slogan, “Shirts for sharks: By protecting them, we protect ourselves.”

She came up with the slogan after reading about how the loss of sharks in the NW Atlantic caused the cow nose ray population to increase and devastate the bay scallop fishery, their favorite food. “As the top predator, they shape their prey, from seals to krill,” says Amy. “It showed me how much sharks positively affect humans.”

Despite their importance to humans, Amy found it hard to convince people to help sharks because they are so often viewed negatively. “They are under-protected due to their poor reputation,” says Amy. “I think it is important that our generation is educated on what is happening to our Earth’s ecosystem.”

Thanks to Amy many more people are educated about the threats that sharks face, and with her creativity and passion, she raised over $200 for Shark Savers and her favorite program, Shark Sanctuaries.

Amy saw the protection that Shark Sanctuaries provide on a volunteering trip to Belize, where she worked on a shark research project. When shown footage between a well-established shark sanctuary, Glover’s Reef, and a brand new one, Southwater Caye, she was shocked to discover that Southwater Caye only had a few small fish, while Glover’s Reef had a healthy population of Carribean Reef and Nurse Sharks.

“It has astounded me how much of a positive effect shark sanctuaries can have not only on shark populations, but on whole communities,” remarks Amy. “I had already decided the money would go to Shark Savers, but after seeing the reserves first-hand I was confident I had made the right decision.”

“If you ever get a chance to swim with a shark in the wild, take it, because once you do you will stop at nothing to help them.”